1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF OCTOBER 1 | A DARK DESCENT INTO RESIDENT EVIL

The Five Biggest Resident Evil Rip-offs

Cover Story: Bring some health spray, a shotgun, and a lawyer for this terrifying journey into the legally questionable.

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ny popular property will eventually see its share of wannabes looking to cash in while the cashing's good. Just as Finding Nemo had its Shark Tale and Transformers had its Transmorphers, the success of 1996's Resident Evil spawned a collection of games looking to adapt the concept of survival horror in an equally profitable fashion. And while the popularity of Resident Evil helped launch some genuinely good games like Silent Hill, most of the developers looking to capture that Capcom magic made one futile attempt before moving on to chase The Next Big Thing. The following games might not scare you in the traditional sense, but those with a fear of plagiarism were undoubtedly driven to the height of madness.

Countdown Vampires

2000 | K2 LLC | PlayStation

Countdown Vampires does more than just rip off Resident Evil; its opening scene of a kicking rad party that eventually descends into blood-based madness would have Wesley Snipes suing if he wasn't currently in prison. Fans of Blade shouldn't worry too much, though, as this late PlayStation-era game makes stealing from Capcom its main focus, right down to the confused voice actors who apparently delivered their lines without any context, and at gunpoint. To their credit, developer K2 LLC (mostly known for their work on the later Tenchu games) offers one feature the Resident Evil series rarely does: a little something for the ladies. After removing his shirt in the opening cutscene, protagonist Keith J. Snyder never feels the need to cover his absolutely shredded torso, which makes for one of the few instances in which a male video game character wears just as little clothing as your typical female lead. Despite this brief bit of progressivism, Countdown Vampires amounts to an uninspired retread of a game most people played four years earlier.

Blue Stinger

1999 | Climax Graphics | Dreamcast

The boost in technology from the Dreamcast's hardware seemed to promise a new era in survival horror, one that wouldn't be tied to pre-rendered backgrounds and stiffly animated characters. And Blue Stinger certainly broadened the scope of survival horror, by including an in-game economy similar to Resident Evil 4, in which players could trade in cash dropped by enemies for new weapons and equipment. This focus on combat could have made for an interesting twist on survival horror, but Blue Stinger focuses too much on this aspect, requiring players to clumsily fight endless hordes of enemies that respawn every time you return to an area. True to the style of most Resident Evil ripoffs, Blue Stinger also has a so-good-it's-bad localization, which can be summed up with the fact that one of the major characters goes by the name of "Dogs." Those interested in seeing Climax Graphics' second take on survival horror should check out Illbleed a very flawed but extremely inventive game with an ad campaign that promised to make you "shit with fear."

Galerians

2000 | Polygon Magic | PlayStation

When Capcom adapted survival horror to a zombie-free premise with 1998's Dino Crisis other developers were quick to follow suit. Polygon Magic's Galerians took the mechanics of Resident Evil and moved them to a sci-fi setting complete with sterile science labs, psychic kids, and exploding heads (a natural side effect of psychic kids). Of course, this sci-fi atmosphere ends up being undercut by an overalls-clad antagonist named Birdman, along with a move to drab indoor and outdoor environments with none of the spooky personality of Resident Evil's haunted mansion. Galerians may not have been entirely successful in beating Capcom at their own game, but it somehow gained enough praise and/or retail dollars to spawn a PS2 sequel, as well as an animated adaptation peppered with songs by popular nu-metal and industrial bands -- apparently anime companies had so much money ten years ago that they believed Galerians deserved at least most of it.

Deep Fear

1998 | Sega AM7 R&D Division | Sega Saturn

Reiko Kodama might not be as well-known as your Hideo Kojimas or your Shigeru Miyamotos, but Sega fans know her as the creator behind notable works like Phantasy Star and Skies of Arcadia. Though her specific role in Deep Fear remains a mystery, we do know that the famed developer took some part in the creation of this late release for the Sega Saturn -- so late, in fact, that it never saw a US release. Deep Fear never aspires to be more than Resident Evil set underwater, but it does contain an interesting twist: along with items and weapons, the player is forced to keep an eye on their oxygen levels, which drain over time and deplete faster when spent firearms burn up the breathable air in a room. It's mystery why Sega would devote so many internal resources to the production of what could have been their own survival horror franchise, only to keep it from one of their largest retail territories -- but, then again, Sega didn't make the wisest of business decisions in the '90s.

Carrier

1999 | Jaleco | Dreamcast

Carrier wants to be Resident Evil so bad that a disembodied and ominous voice growls its title before you can even start a new game -- it's actually kind of cute. Though Jaleco does a lousy job at hiding their inspiration, Carrier contains one notable feature that Resident Evil wouldn't see until the following year's Code Veronica: backgrounds freed from the realm of the pre-rendered. That said, Carrier doesn't innovate all that much, since its camera angles stick to the "we'll show you what we god damn please" style pioneered by 1992's Alone in the Dark. Speaking of darkness, Carrier shrouds its entire world in a thick blanket of shadows, and doesn't even give you so much as a flashlight (a la Silent Hill) for assistance; instead, you're forced to clumsily use a first-person perspective scanner any time you want to figure out the identity of that possibly dangerous shape in the distance -- which will happen often. Carrier makes for a more notable take on water-based survival horror -- a surprisingly prolific theme in these failed Resident Evil clones -- but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't amount to much more than a floater.

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Comments (27)

Overblood

Was a PS1 game that I was so mad for buying. They did it real time, which was something RE didn't and it actually was kind of impressive as a technical bulletpoint... but for all their tech and character modeling, they couldn't make something that was fun and enjoyable. The enemy encounters were so sparse and horrendous.

If there was ever a game that represented the most boring, late-night 70's dystopian future sci-fi without the budget to be convincing, and simply trying to sell itself on being "the future"... this would be it. If Valve sucked and made survival horror, maybe?

And really,

RE was a game version of dozens of monster/zombie movies, so even calling Deep Fear a ripoff seems harsh. It wasn't a completely original concept to start with, regardless of how well executed it was. I, for one, thought it was a great game in it's own right, and prob shouldn't be on a list of bad copycats. Blue Stinger wasn't too bad for a launch title, either.

I thought...

...Galerians was a pretty cool game until I went "crazy" or whatever that was they called it later in the game right before a boss battle. I was out of mind juice and there was literally no way to "un" crazy so I'd just reload only to watch the main character hold his head and walk around slowly until he died.

Blue Stinger :)

Wow Blue Stinger! I believe I still have that for the dreamcast! I loved that game when it first game out, I couldn't stop playing till I finished. Not quite a classic RE caliber, but very fun none the less.

Great Article

Very entertaining. Made me remember the time when the "survival horror" game engine was the big thing. I never knew about some of the games listed here, and I loved the video for Carrier. I watched a few more of them and found the games stiff, obvious nature had a quaint charm.

Galerians

Galerians had the potential to be good. It reminded me of the movie series called "scanners" which was about tormented people with psychic powers. (As well as the anime Akira) However, the graphic approach was kind of goofy. Not completely in a bad way but enough to undermine the horror elements slightly.

I do wonder what a modern Galerians remake would be like with a decent budget, up to date graphics, improved gameplay, and imaginative writers to back it up.

Er, then again it has been proven throwing money at a game concept doesn't always improve it. There has to be some amount of skill,creativity,and team work present during the development process to pump out a good product.

Carrier's funny female name

Wasn't Carrier the one which had a female character named "Jessifer". It was as if the Japanese were trying to come up with an original American name based on names they heard before. They took Jessica and Lucifer and put them together.

Blue Stinger and Carrier were okay.

They were just okay. They were not outstanding, and even in that day and time I know they were rip offs of Resident Evil, but I still bought both on the Dreamcast. As I remember, I think I really liked Carriers sound design a lot. Like it had some good background music or melodies. Neither games had a super intreguing story as the first Resident Evil had and nothing new, but they did a well enough job of making an RE-clone.

BTW Bob, you have Blue Stinger listed as a Saturn game. I don't think that game ever came out for the Saturn, but not sure. Dreamcast was where I first found the game around the time of the Dreamcast launch.

I too enjoyed them.

I agree that Carrier was just okay. But it was still corny goodness. Blue Stinger, however, I loved. Still own that game, but haven't played it in awhile. It too was corny with the voice acting and cinematics, but it was just so darn fun killing monsters and stealing their lunch money.

And, yes, it was a Dreamcast only game. I don't even think they made a survival horror game for the Saturn.

Cold Fear

It might be tough to call it a ripoff (because it came out pretty close to the same time and also because I would imagine Darkworks had some of this in the hopper before demos proved that they needed to swerve in the same direction ASAP) but Darkworks' Cold Fear was a game that desperately wished it had the juice that Resident Evil 4 had. It was also hoping to be the "Resident Evil on a Boat" that RE was originally going to be in RE2 (aka RE 1.5.)

yep

Blue Stinger!

I had Blue Stinger on Dreamcast, and though I thought that the character models were hideous, I still enjoyed it well enough as one of the earlier DC titles. I'm glad you mentioned the superior Illbleed, though. I would still recommend that one to somebody building their Dreamcast collection.